He began his long and distinguished military career shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War. On 26 July 1861, he enlisted in the 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment at the age of 17, after having been rejected twice before. Over the next two years he worked his way up the enlisted ranks to 1st sergeant.

On 18 March 1863, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 81st United States Colored Infantry. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant on 26 April 1864 and to captain on 4 April 1865. After the war he received a brevet promotion to major to rank from 13 March 1865 for "faithful and meritorious service during the war". He was mustered out of the Volunteer Army on 22 March 1867.

The Explorers of Lady Franklin Bay prior to departure in 1881. Photograph by Moses Rice.

In 1881, First Lieutenant Greely was given command of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition on the ship Proteus. Promoted by Henry W. Howgate, its purpose was to establish one of a chain of meteorological-observation stations as part of the First International Polar Year.[2] The expedition also was commissioned by the US government to collect astronomical and polar magnetic data, which was carried out by the astronomer Edward Israel, who was part of Greely's crew. Another goal of the expedition was to search for any clues of the USS Jeannette, lost in the Arctic two years earlier.[3]

Two consecutive supply parties failed to reach Greely's party encamped at Fort Conger on Ellesmere Island in 1882 and 1883. In accordance with his instructions for this case, Greely decided in August 1883 to abandon Fort Conger and retreat south with his team. They reached Cape Sabine expecting to find food and equipment depots from the supply ships, but these had not been provided. With winter setting in Greely and his men were forced to winter at Cape Sabine with inadequate rations and little fuel.[citation needed]

The six survivors of the U.S. Army's Greely Arctic expedition with their U.S. Navy rescuers, at Upernavik, Greenland, 2–3 July 1884. Probably photographed on board the USS Thetis.

A rescue expedition, led by Capt. Winfield Scott Schley on the USRC Bear (a former whaler built in Greenock, Scotland), was sent to rescue the Greely party. By the time Bear and ships Thetis and Alert arrived on June 22, 1884, to rescue the expedition, nineteen of Greely's 25-man crew had perished from starvation, drowning, hypothermia, and, in the case of Private Henry, gunshot wounds from an execution ordered by Greely.[5][6]

Greely and the other survivors were themselves near death; one of the survivors died on the homeward journey. The returning survivors were venerated as heroes, though the heroism was tainted by sensational accusations of cannibalism during the remaining days of low food.[7]

In June 1886, Greely was promoted to captain after serving twenty years as a lieutenant and, in March 1887, President Grover Cleveland appointed him as Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army with the rank of brigadier general.

During his tenure as Chief Signal Officer of the Army, the following military telegraph lines were constructed, operated and maintained during the Spanish–American War: Puerto Rico, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers); Cuba, 3,000 mi (4,800 km); the Philippines, 10,200 mi (16,400 km). In connection with Alaska, then General Greely had constructed under very adverse conditions a telegraph system of nearly 4,000 mi (6,400 km), consisting of submarine cables, land cables and wireless telegraphy, the latter covering a distance of 107 mi (172 km), which at the time of installation was the longest commercial system regularly working in the world.[citation needed]

On March 21, 1935, a special act of Congress awarded Greely the Medal of Honor in recognition of his long and distinguished career. He is the second person (after SGM Frederick William Gerber) to be awarded the Medal of Honor for "lifetime achievement" rather than for acts of physical courage at the risk of one's own life. His was the second and last award of the Medal of Honor by the Army for non-combat service.[8]
(The other was to Charles A. Lindbergh for his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.[9])

In 1890, he became a founding member of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and was elected as the society's vice president. Upon the death of Admiral David D. Porter in February 1891, Greely became president of the District of Columbia Society of the SAR.[citation needed]

In retirement General Greely resided at 1635 R Street N.W. in Washington, D.C. He was member of the Cosmos Club.

General Greely received the Medal of Honor in 1935. Rank and organization: Major General, U.S. Army, retired. Place and date: ----. Entered service at: Louisiana. Born: March 27, 1844, Newburyport, Mass. G.O. No.: 3, W.D., 1935. Act of Congress, March 21, 1935.

Citation:

For his life of splendid public service, begun on March 27, 1844, having enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army on July 26, 1861, and by successive promotions was commissioned as major general February 10, 1906, and retired by operation of law on his 64th birthday.

Greely's medal was awarded in contradiction to the revised 1916 Army warrant requiring combat action and risk of life "above and beyond the call of duty."[11] However, his medal was the second, and last, Army presentation contrary to the combat requirement, as Charles Lindbergh (an Army reservist not on active duty) received the award for his solo transatlantic flight eight years before, in 1927. Until after WWII the Navy Medal of Honor could be awarded for noncombat actions, reflecting different criteria within the United States armed forces.

Robert Peary

Robert Edwin Peary Sr. was an American explorer and United States Navy officer who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for claiming to have reached the geographic North Pole with his expedition on April 6, 1909.

Richard E. Byrd

Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole by air. However, his claim to have reached the North Pole is disputed.

Arthur MacArthur Jr.

Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, Jr., was a United States Army general. He became the military Governor-General of the American-occupied Philippines in 1900 but his term ended a year later due to clashes with the civilian governor, future-U.S. President William Howard Taft.

Loyd Wheaton

Loyd Wheaton was a United States general who fought in the Philippine–American War and in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Elisha Kent Kane

Elisha Kent Kane was an American explorer, and a medical officer in the United States Navy during the first half of the 19th century. He was a member of two Arctic expeditions to rescue the explorer Sir John Franklin.

George W. Melville

George Wallace Melville was an American engineer, Arctic explorer, and author. As chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, he headed a time of great expansion, technological progress and change, often in defiance of the conservative element of the Navy hierarchy. He superintended the design of 120 ships and introduced the water-tube boiler, the triple-screw propulsion system, vertical engines, the floating repair ship, and the "distilling ship." Appointed engineer in chief of the Navy, Melville reformed the service entirely, putting Navy engineers on a professional rather than an artisan footing.

African American Civil War Memorial Museum

The African American Civil War Memorial Museum consists of a memorial and a museum that commemorate the service of 209,145 African-American soldiers and about 7,000 white and 2,145 Hispanic soldiers, amounting to nearly 220,000, plus the approximate 20,000 unsegregated Navy sailors, who fought for the Union in the American Civil War, mostly among the 175 regiments of United States Colored Troops (USCT).

Ernest Albert Garlington

Lady Franklin Bay Expedition

The 1881–1884 Lady Franklin Bay Expedition into the Canadian Arctic was led by Lt. Adolphus Greely and was promoted by the United States Army Signal Corps. Its purpose was to establish a meteorological-observation station as part of the First International Polar Year, and to collect astronomical and magnetic data. During the expedition, two members of the crew reached a new "Farthest North" record, but of the original twenty-five men only seven survived to return to the United States.

Fort Conger

Fort Conger is a former settlement, military fortification, and scientific research post in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It was established in 1881 as an Arctic exploration camp, notable as the site of the first major northern polar region scientific expedition, led by Adolphus Greely as part of the US government's contribution to the First International Polar Year. It was later occupied by Robert Peary during some of his Arctic expeditions. In 1991, some of the structures at Fort Conger were designated as Classified Federal Heritage Buildings.

David L. Brainard

David Legge Brainard was an arctic explorer and United States Army officer who fought in the American Indian Wars, the Spanish–American War, and World War I.

James B. Lockwood

James Booth Lockwood was an American arctic explorer.

George W. Rice (photographer)

George Walter Rice was a Canadian-born photographer who was first to photograph the Arctic region on the ill-fated American led Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881 to 1884. Rice died in the Arctic on 9 April 1884 while awaiting the arrival of a relief vessel.

The Explorers Club

The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point for explorers and scientists worldwide.

Edwin S. Greeley

Edwin Seneca Greeley was an industrialist, soldier, and philanthropist who worked in the railroad industry and served in the American Civil War.